Evidence.

Strategy.

Action.

The work of philanthropic and nonprofit leaders is essential. And often challenging. But it can be intimate and joyful.

We are here to partner with you.

Approach

Leading teams to achieve social impact is about the destination and the journey. And more often than not, it is as personal as it is professional. We are grounded and expert in the work of philanthropic and nonprofit leadership, and dedicated to driving resources, opportunities, and justice to people and communities.

We specialize in marshalling evidence—new and existing— to identify powerful actions and to sharpen strategy. We build strong cases that distill powerful value propositions, identify new opportunities, and catalyze external partners towards aligned action.

We help you where you are. And partner with you to get you where you want to go.

Work

We work with philanthropic and nonprofit leaders—such as chief executive officers, nonprofit boards, chief impact officers, and program directors— to gather and analyze data, elevate insights, develop strategy, accelerate progress and promote continuous improvement in their work.

This can include a combination of:

  • Strategic consultation

  • Landscape scans

  • New data collection

    • Survey design and analysis

    • Interview and focus group design and facilitation

  • Internal strategy development

  • Public-facing evidence briefs and reports

  • Leadership coaching

  • Expert facilitation

  • Community engagement and presentation

Sample Projects

  • Lead author of a mixed-methods landscape scan and evidence brief (full report and infographic) focused on increasing the presence and success of Philadelphia area executive nonprofit leaders within national fellowship programs.

  • Lead author of an emerging lessons report focused on community-authored solutions for local justice reform.

  • Lead author of tools focused on ‘community ecocycles' and implicit/explicit dimensions of place-based systems change to support stronger education outcomes for students from pre-K through college.

  • Project lead for the creation of a youth advisory and theory of change (part 1 and part 2) emphasizing intergenerational learning and youth-centered solutions for a foundation research and evaluation team.

  • Strategic coaching and support for the visionary Chief Impact Officer of an organization focused on achieving a vision of equity for all in America.

Clients

My CV

I’m James Liou. I began the first fifteen years of my career as a nationally-recognized public school educator, and spent most of that time in Boston as a high school history and civics teacher, teacher leader, and senior director overseeing K-12 history and social studies programming district-wide. In many ways, I remain an educator at heart.

After completing a national policy fellowship at the U.S. Department of Education, I shifted into philanthropy, strategic consulting, evaluation, and nonprofit leadership development. I have held multiple roles related to place-based grantmaking, led strategy and operations functions at a national consulting organization, and led numerous projects and project teams focused on the design and evaluation of various social impact initiatives, with a focus on systems change.

I also am an alum of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s signature executive leadership program, which focused on approaches and accountability to achieve equitable results for children, youth, and families.

I am based in Greater Philadelphia, but available to travel for longer consulting engagements. I also partner with other expert colleagues to assemble the strongest possible teams (hence the we).

Download my more detailed CV here.

Etymology

I am grounded, humbled, and outnumbered by my jubilant daughters, for whom this consultancy practice—(F)our(G)irls—is named.

Let’s work together.

Interested in talking through some ideas? Drop in your contact information and we will be in touch. Initial consultations are complimentary. We can't wait to hear from you!